Painkiller of the Caribbean

What’s a better rum drink than the Painkiller? Nothing. The answer in the dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia is nothing.

Rum of course is the most consumed liquor in the Caribbean – created from sugarcane and molasses.
The Painkiller is a tropical drink that was first made on Jost Van Dyke at the Soggy Dollar Bar in the pristine White Bay.

The featured photo (above) is of a bartender – I’d like to think of him as the bartender – that has made literally millions of Painkillers. He’s there every year we visit and I imagine he’s been there a lot longer than the first trip we took only 3 years ago. Check out our latest trip video!

We also visited Marina Cay where the Pusser’s home base is located. It was amazing seeing this tiny island because most of our crew has read Robb White’s Two on the Isle, a rare book containing a memory of his life on Marina Cay. I included a photo of his house below.

What is a Painkiller? There are a lot of combinations of Painkillers in the Virgin Islands (British and U.S.) but most include local dark rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, and a lot of the time some kind of coconut water/juice/cream. The “cherry on top” is fresh nutmeg on top that gives it an island feel that you can’t get anywhere else (or at least it seems that way). Mic, pictured above, is known for shaving a nutmeg into the several drinks he makes at a time – each time he gets an order. From our experiences at Soggy Dollar Bar, every crew ordered a round for the entire party.

On our boat, we always make painkillers using Callwood’s Spiced Rum that is made on Tortola at the Callwood distillery in Cane Garden Bay.

If you want to truly experience this cocktail, I recommend you do so in the British Virgin Islands – JWB

All photos taken by yours truly.

Robb White and wife’s house on Marina Cay.The VIEW from Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost.